Hold on to Your Bananas! A Donkey Kong Movie is Primed and Ready to Rumble, Says Nintendo

AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·

Hold on to Your Bananas! A Donkey Kong Movie is Primed and Ready to Rumble, Says Nintendo

Word on the street is Nintendo's registered the copyright for a Donkey Kong film, meaning we could be seeing the big ape swing into cinemas sometime after the Mario and Zelda movies. It's all part of a broader push to make DK a major player in Nintendo's multimedia empire.

Right, gather 'round, mates, because it looks like Nintendo's about to unleash a whole barrel of Kong-sized entertainment on us. Eurogamer (link below) has unearthed some tantalizing news: Nintendo and Universal Pictures have registered the copyright for a *Donkey Kong* film. A film, I say! Not just a cameo, not just a side quest, but a full-blown movie starring everyone's favorite tie-wearing ape.

Now, this isn't entirely out of the blue. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa hinted at more visual content during a recent investor call, saying they've been working on "initiatives beyond our dedicated video game platforms" and are "deeply involved in production." (Sounds like a polite way of saying, "Yeah, we're making movies now, get hyped.") We already have the *Super Mario Bros. Movie* sequel slated for April 2026 and the *Legend of Zelda* film, recently delayed to March 2027 (bloody hell!), so Kong was always a solid bet.

But why now? Well, Donkey Kong’s been popping up *everywhere*. He stole the show in the *Super Mario Bros. Movie* (Seth Rogan’s voice was pure gold, wasn't it?), and the theme parks are expanding into Donkey Kong Country. Plus, this week sees the launch of *Donkey Kong Bananza* alongside the Nintendo Switch 2. (Did anyone actually see that coming? Switch 2 already?!) So, Nintendo’s clearly giving the big guy a serious push.

It’s all adding up to a calculated Kong campaign. The Mario sequel is coming in 2026, Zelda in 2027...reckon we'll see Donkey Kong swing into cinemas around Spring 2028? That seems like a fair guess, giving them about a year between releases. What I really want to know is, will it be a straight-up adaptation of one of the games, or will they go full-on cinematic universe and start crossing over characters from different franchises? (Mario vs. Link vs. Kong? Now *that's* a film I'd pay to see!).

And get this: *Donkey Kong Bananza* is being developed by the *Mario Odyssey* team. The Eurogamer hands-on previews have been pretty positive, stating that the developers have clearly done their homework and the game has a great amount of energy. That gives me hope that any potential film will be handled with the same care and attention to detail. No soulless cash grabs here, hopefully.

So, there you have it. The gorilla's getting his own spotlight. Time to start stockpiling those bananas, because this could be a wild ride.

Tags: Donkey Kong, Nintendo, Movies, Gaming News, Super Mario Bros

Original article: Eurogamer